Official Response to Lord Goldsmith’s Report on Citizenship
Due to the pressure from many British Nationals (Overseas) (BN(O)s) , our Core Group members and the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (President: Ian MacDonald QC), Lord Peter Goldsmith QC has finally given a detailed analysis and recognition of the unfair treatment to the citizenship of BN(O) by the HM Government.
Under Chapter 4 Part 1(11) of the Citizenship Review report (Citizenship: Our Common Bond), Lord Goldsmith acknowledged the fact that BN(O) is the only category of the whole of British Nationality that is not treated fairly, as he described BN(O) as an “anomalous category of citizenship”. In Part 1(12) of the same Chapter, Lord Goldsmith stated ”Nonetheless to remove this status without putting something significant in its place would be seen as the British reneging on their promise to the people of Hong Kong. The only option which would be characterized as fair would be to offer existing BN(O) holders the right to gain full British citizenship.”
However, the problem in so doing is that “to offer existing BN(O) holders the right to gain full British citizenship” Lord Goldsmith said, “I am advised that this would be a breach of the commitments made between China and the UK in the 1984 Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong”.
BritishHongKong understands Lord Goldsmith’s concern, as it was stated in the United Kingdom Memorandum of the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, that those who acquired the status of BN(O) by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong, cannot be given the right of abode (ROA) in the United Kingdom:
“(a) All persons who on 30 June 1997 are, by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong, British Dependent Territories citizens (BDTCs) under the law in force in the United Kingdom will cease to be BDTCs with effect from 1 July 1997, but will be eligible to retain an appropriate status which, without conferring the right of abode in the United Kingdom, will entitle them to continue to use passports issued by the Government of the United Kingdom.”
As this memorandum is only a unilateral declaration by the United Kingdom, and is not part of the treaty that was signed and agreed to by both the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the People’s Republic of China, its legal standing is questionable.
BritishHongKong would also like to point out that this memorandum was made by the HM government of the time with no consultation with the people of Hong Kong, and with, what we believed, the discriminatory aim of stopping the possible migration of these British Nationals to the UK after the handover of Hong Kong if the Right of Abode was granted. As Lord Goldsmith has indicated in the Citizenship Review report, given the high standard of living and economic prosperity in Hong Kong, if full British Citizenship is granted to BN(O)s, the likelihood of these people taking up their right to move to the UK would be minimal.
Our organisation appreciates the positive attitude of the HM government towards such matter, and also the research found in the Citizenship Review report. BritishHongKong will gather its Core Group members to urge the HM government to keep the promises made in the Joint-Declaration, by keeping the status of British National (Overseas) and also by giving BN(O) an equal and fair treatment. However, in order to avoid any breach of human right that may result after the ratification of The Treaty of Lisbon, BritishHongKong would like to express our concern to the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Gordon Brown MP, with the following recommendations:
1. BN(O), while having no right of abode in the UK, to be declared as Citizen of European Union (with full EU Citizenship).
2. BN(O), while having no right of abode in the UK, to be given a right to gain another form of British Nationality – the status of British Citizen – at the same time.
3. BN(O), while having no right of abode in the UK, be free to enter the UK and be granted indefinite leave to remain). This would be similar to the method used by the Mainland Chinese government to allow Hong Kong residents to enter Mainland China.
- BN(O), while having no right of abode in the UK, should enjoy a more lenient set of criteria in pursuit of their full British citizenship. For example, allowing students and workers who are holders of BN(O) to register as British Citizens after a short period of residence in the UK, without the requirement of ILR (Indefinite leave to Remain).
In the past, various groups of British Nationals (Overseas) have been granted full British Citizenship (and with it, the Right of Abode). In fact the HM Government, in the early 1990s, had given 50,000 families in Hong Kong full British Citizenship through the British Nationality Selection Scheme (under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 and also many others through the provisions of the British Nationality Act (Hong Kong) 1997, both of which has not breached the Memorandum of Sino-British Joint Declaration the Government of the United Kingdom declared. The recommendation No. 2 above (BN(O) + BC) has been used before (in granting British Overseas Territories Citizens access to full British Citizenship through the British Overseas Territories Act 2002) and this should not breach the Joint Declaration as well.
BritishHongKong also welcome Lord Goldsmith’s mention of Protocol 4 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) in his Citizenship Review. According to Protocol 4, persons should have a right to enter one’s country of nationality. However, certain categories of British nationals currently do not enjoy the right to enter the UK. The UK has signed the protocol in 1964, and is currently one out of three EU countries not to have ratified this protocol. As suggested by Lord Goldsmith, it would be timely to consider addressing these human rights issues with the current review of Citizenship laws and with the view of ratifying Protocol 4 of the ECHR.We would also like to thank Lord Goldsmith for exploring the rights of the different types of British nationals and that of Commonwealth, Irish and EU citizens in the UK in his review. His report has helped highlight the ironic situation at present, where certain British nationals enjoy less rights in the UK than certain foreign nationals, e.g. the right to enter, work or study freely in the UK and which are enjoyed by EU citizens but are not currently enjoyed by certain British nationals.
Thus, in conclusion, we urge the HM government to consider our recommendations mentioned above, in producing a draft bill that creates a society with equality and fairness, and upholds human rights so that people of all categories of British nationality would be proud of being British – the greatest common bond.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Robin Tso
Founder
BritishHongKong
On behalf of
BritishHongKong Core Group Members
(Co-founder: Mr. Turk Chan)
